Space rock impact site(s)

[Turtle]

Just a note to say I e-mailed USGS with particulars on my find as it is not listed anywhere as either a volcano or a meteor impact crater. Do I smell a Hypography sponsored expedition?

[Turtle]

I got permission from Ace to download the NASA World Wind mapping software onto this machine, and I grabbed a screenshot of our mystery formation. Good stuff Maynard.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Just a note to say I e-mailed USGS with particulars on my find as it is not listed anywhere as either a volcano or a meteor impact crater. Do I smell a Hypography sponsored expedition?

I found another map that shows more impact craters than are listed in one of the online DBs. Heres a shot of the area your exploring. The * in purple are impact craters. I put a link to the original (and HUGE map) under the thread Major Land Resource Areas in this same forum, if you want to download it and explore it further.

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[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Lambus

An impact diameter of 12.874-14.484 km is within the typical range for a Terra impact crater.

28º 18' 51.14" N
107º 55' 01.07" W

Howdy Lambus. Sooooo...does that mean you think the Mexico feature is an impact crater? A volcano? Neither?

Using the NASA map I zoomed in and took down a bunch of place names from in-and-around the feature. Here's a few:

Prieto (this is almost in the center of the feature)
Agua Zarca
Guachochic
Bajio Las Palma
Ochocachi
Los Puertecitos
Loma del Menzano
Los Platos
Laguna de Caballos
Bajio de Conachi
Gualay Agua Caliente (can't find a translation of 'gualay', but hot water sounds like volcanic hot springs?)
Aserradero Entenachi
Otuachi
Cumbres de Gualayna
Norogachi Batayeachi
Haciendo de Beneficio
Huerachic
Los Nogales
La Parida
Sinforosa
Rancho Viejo



PS Here is the thread for meteor impact sites in general. >> Craters on Earth and the other Planets

[Turtle]

Stop the presses!!! Breaking News!!! I just found the Big Momma! Here are two map shots, one from NASA's World Wind map, and the other from Google Earth. I circled the Big Momma in red on the NASA map; it is 135 kilometers across! On the Google Earth map, you can see where I marked my first find that started this thread.

Originally Posted by Cedars

I found another map that shows more impact craters than are listed in one of the online DBs. Heres a shot of the area your exploring. The * in purple are impact craters. I put a link to the original (and HUGE map) under the thread Major Land Resource Areas in this same forum, if you want to download it and explore it further.

Roger. Nice find! I have it bookmarked. No record on it for my find area.

So, if these are meteor impact craters then we had quite a barrage rather than a single big piece perhaps? Any body found anything on the geology/rock types of the area? If these are volcanic craters we should find ash, and if impact craters we should find tectites.

On we go then!

[Cedars]

Wow. I think you may have nailed one there Turtle!
Good Job!

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Cedars

Wow. I think you may have nailed one there Turtle!
Good Job!

I think I soiled myself! Here's simple coordinates that put you in the interior of this thing for your favorite maps.

27º N
107º W

If you save the image and then load it into drawing software, you can play with the lighting and see more features.

I found one geology of Mexico site, but it's all for sale only. I'm on the hunt & will return with prey. Gotta change my drawers.

PS At 135 kilometers, my crater is only sligthly smaller than Chicxulub the 'dinosaur killer' at 170 kilometers.
North America

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[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Lambus

The statistical data indicates that particular formation is a volcanic caldera, with associated active 'Gualay Agua Caliente', volcanic hot springs. Gualay is an ancient term for 'Geiser', or a hot water geiser.

There is a possibility that these are Calderas. The Terra Calderas range in size from 35-100 km in diameter.

The largest Terra Caldera I could find is the Toba Caldera in Indonesia, which measures 100 x 35 km.

Toba Caldera in Indonesia (GPS): 2.60 N, 98.80 E

However, the 'Cráter Grande del la Madre' diameter is larger than any caldera on Terra, therefore this is confirmed to be an asteroid impact crater.

(Big Momma Crater), Caldera?
Cráter Grande del la Madre (GPS): 27.216 N, 107.13 W
Diameter: 131.61 km
Discoverer: Turtle (Hypography: Science for everyone)
Discovery Date: 05-26-07, 03:51 PM
Asteroid impactor diameter: > 5 km
Extinction Level Event? (ELE)









Reference:
Calderas - World's Largest Calderas

Sweet Lambus! First, may I suggest Tortuga Jorge Cráter.

I found one source talking about the geology, but on the trail of the obsidian trade not meteors. Still, it gives some rock type info. >> The Silicic Geology of Northwest Mexico

The above source says of the area NW of Tortuga Jorge ( )...

Originally Posted by swxrflab.net

Most of the rhyolite volcanism in the region occurred between 36 and 27 million years ago and is now overlain by 29 to 17 million year old basalt related to crustal extension and Rio Grande rifting (Albrecht et al. 1990; Cameron et al. 1980; Gunderson et al. 1986; McDowell and Mauger 1994)

If this is an impact crater older than that (possibly a part of the Chicxulub event?), then the fill-in we see may just be the result of later volcanism. In the general thread on impact craters, I speculated that a large impact may trigger/activate volcanic hotspots. Wounds that never heal so to speak.

We better look for shocked quartz when we get down there too. Caldera, impact site, or both, this definitely has the potential of an ELE. When can you guys be packed?